Farmers and labour hire ‘on notice’ over pay breaches, says Fair Work
Farmers in the Whitsunday and Stanthorpe regions were targeted in an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Farmers have been offered bargaining lessons to reduce their farm gate losses.. (Photo: Zoe Schaeffer on Unsplash).
The ombudsman said it investigated 330 businesses across Australia into its probe of the agriculture sector.
Fines for breaches of pay slip and record keeping now total $176,000. More than 50 breaches were within labour hire companies and nine to growers.
Inspectors zoned in on 15 hot spots where intelligence suggested non-compliance was common.
Most recently that included Stanthorpe and the Whitsundays as well as Adelaide Hills and south west WA.
Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the strategy highlighted the importance of keeping records.
Parker said inspectors had consistently found higher levels of non-compliance in relation to labour hire companies, as opposed to growers who directly engage workers.
“It’s a red flag if workers can’t identify their employer and are paid cash-in-hand, without pay slips, by individuals seemingly unrelated to the apparent employing entity. This is prevalent in multi-level supply chains where we consistently find wrongdoing,” she said.
“With unannounced hot spot inspections continuing this year and next, growers and labour hire entities are on notice. They may get a visit from Fair Work Inspectors very soon – and we will take enforcement action where appropriate.”
